Bicycle racks for attachment to passenger vehicle bumpers are well known. Bicycle racks which may be detachably secured to a conventional trailer hitch mounted on a passenger vehicle have recently been invented. Such bicycle racks typically employ a rectangular base tube that is received in the trailer hitch square tube hitch receiver mounted on a passenger vehicle. A T-shaped bar is secured to and extends upwardly from the base tube. A pair of hook rods are mounted on the top of the T-bar to carry the crossbar of one or more bicycles. Various clamping devices have been used in the prior art to attempt to secure the crossbar of the bicycles to the hook rods extending outwardly from the T-bar. Such clamping devices have various drawbacks. Some lack the necessary structural integrity to securely hold bicycles onto the carrier while being transported by the vehicle. Others are costly to manufacture. Other clamping devices are cumbersome to use. Others lack durability.
One such prior art bicycle rack is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,414. It employs an L-shaped clamping member that has a vertical portion telescopically received within a tubular slide member secured to the back of the T-bar. This type of clamping device is costly to manufacture. It is also cumbersome to use in that it requires the L-shaped clamp member to be lifted vertically and held in a vertical position while bicycles are loaded or unloaded from the hook rods. With this arrangement, interference between the slidable portion of the L-shaped clamp member and the tubular member at the back of the T-bar exacerbates the cumbersome nature of this arrangement.
Another recently introduced prior art bicycle rack is the bike hitch shown and described in U.S. Ser. No. 384,578 filed Jul. 28, 1989. This bike hitch employs a clamp arm pivotally secured to a U-shaped bracket which is fixedly and permanently mounted to the top of the vertical tube and can accommodate only the standard size frame of racing bicycles. The lower portion of the vertical tube is likewise fixedly secured to a horizontally disposed base tube that supports the bicycle rack in a conventional hitch receiver. Neither the top assembly of this rack nor the base assembly permits the bicycle rack to be folded for compact storage or rotated backward to provide clearance for the rear door or hatch of a passenger vehicle or truck.
It is an object of this invention to provide a bicycle rack which securely and conveniently clamps the crossbars of different size frame bicycles.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a rack which may be rotated rearward from the vehicle to permit ready access and clearance for a rear door or hatch of the passenger vehicle.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a bicycle rack which may be folded for compact storage.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a bicycle rack which may be mounted to a conventional trailer hitch tongue, a square tube receiver via a standard utility hitch bar, or a step bumper of a passenger vehicle or truck.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a rack which is convenient to use, yet sturdy and durable and cost efficient to manufacture.